Tag Archives: rural urban

from the RUAF Foundation—a Centre for Sustainable Food Systems collaborator…

On 15 October, more than 100 cities signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. The Pact consists of a series of tangible commitments for sustainable urban food policies. Signatory Mayors from cities in the Global North and South pledge to develop actions and strategies to improve their urban food system. Read more…

The text of the Pact and the framework for action are available in ENG, IT, FR, SP, Dutch, Russian, Arabic on:

All documents were developed in a participatory process by the cities, with support of the city of Milan and a Technical Team, including staff of the RUAF Foundation.

RUAF, along with FAO Food for Cities and other City Region Food System collaborators, will continue working with the municipality of Milan on the post Pact process to assist cities in translating the Pact into action. We will keep you posted on future developments. For further information: m.dubbeling@ruaf.org and h.renting@ruaf.org.

During the last decades, Localized agri-food systems (SYAL) have become increasingly important as tools for farmers, rural firms and consumers to meet market challenges and satisfy the rising demand for “food with a farmers face”. The potential contribution of localized agri-food systems to rural development by promoting economic development, social cohesion and counter-acting the demographic impact of agricultural modernization has also increased their political relevance.

The European Research Group SYAL and Södertörn University welcomes you to the 7th biannual world conference on localized agri-food systems. The congress will be organized by Södertörn University and ERG SYAL, and held in Stockholm the 8-10 of May 2016. For more details…

… the new face[s] of exurban development and rural landscapes; the realities of modern farming; the role of alternative food networks and changing practices in shaping the new rural realities; rural responses to global challenges…

(photo courtesy Lisa Harrington)

… and rural gentrification; re-imagining and rebuilding rural communities and rural-urban connections; and understanding the implications of global economic restructuring and collaborative responses in rural communities.

Collaborative responses (photo courtesy Colleen Hiner)

My own research, ‘Scale and the conventionalization of local food’, found many points of interconnection with a series of presentations that mapped the implications of food systems transitions for rural and urban communities, through both local and global food chains. These presentations covered diverse locales—from the South Carolina Lowcountry to Riga, rural Kenya and Hong Kong—as well as diverse subjects, including civic and political engagement, the influence of a legacy of exploitation, political agroecology, cultural firewalls, agriburbia, and measuring the performance of global and local food chains.

For me, many of the conference isights coalesced around the diversity of responses in rural regions and landscapes to global realignments, state-level austerity and delegation of services, combined with a growing distortion from wealthy rural amenity investors.

Over the course of the week, it became clear that rural geography methodologies are well-positioned to incorporate metrics that recognize complexity, and participatory methodologies that recognize rural positionality;

… to investigate land use policy and struggles;

North Brandon getting the sharp end of the stick… again (photo courtesy Michael Woods)

… to rethink the rural, and rural globalization; to explore governance of rural countryside, environment and community; and to explain the global challenges and rural responses reflected in uneven development, the construction of rural life, and crossing boundaries.

(photo courtesy William Wetherholt)

The conference highlights also included the many forays into the Welsh countryside:

Three Cliffs Bay (photo courtesy Randall Wilson)

Parkmill, Gower (the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and Three Cliffs Bay;

… and Newtown—where stoic field researchers navigated an incredibly serious interactive walk while reflecting on everyday globalization in a small town, using Storymap. And carefully measured the accuracy of random peri-urban birds. Seriously.

It is often difficult to estimate the value that comes from sharing academic work in a conference setting, but i have no doubt that the strength of the bonds created while discussing our work and its implications, across diverse rural Welsh landscapes—and over the occasional pint of Welsh conviviality—will continue to generate fruitful collaboration and useful comparative work on issues that face rural communities, globally, for years to come.

An international meeting dedicated to sharing knowledge and practices among local governments of cities and urban regions from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, along with research and development actors…

16-18 November 2015, Montpellier (France)

The UNESCO Chair on world food systems and CIRAD, gathered together within the Surfood (Sustainable Urban Food Systems) programme, in collaboration with many partners, are organizing an international meeting dedicated to the sharing of knowledge and practices among local governments of cities and urban areas, along with research and development actors. The objective is to contribute through dialogue to a better knowledge and understanding of urban food policies in the world, their construction, modes of action and impacts.
This meeting will provide an opportunity to show that, in addition to national policies and international agreements, cities can also make a vital contribution to food security and sustainable food systems. Read more…

We are looking for a postdoctoral scholar to assist with a funded SSHRC study to examine food production systems on the rural/urban fringe in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, with a potential for additional fieldwork in Portland, Oregon. The ideal candidate will have expertise in local food systems and experience analyzing small lot farming operations and land use change on the rural/urban fringe. There is significant scope to pursue one’s own interests within the larger context of the project.

This two year position, beginning in January of 2014, will be jointly supervised by Dr. Lenore Newman, Canada Research Chair in Food Security and Environment at the University of the Fraser Valley, and Dr. Hannah Wittman in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. The position will require residence in Vancouver or the Fraser Valley, and a valid driver’s license. GIS skills are also a desired asset. Salary is 40,000 per year plus benefits, with generous research expenses and conference presentation funding available. Please send an expression of interest, a CV, and contact information for two academic references to lenore.newman@ufv.ca and hannah.wittman@ubc.ca by October 15, 2013.

Lakehead University invites applications for a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Tier II Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Food Systems Studies at a rank commensurate with experience and qualifications. We seek an innovative, outstanding emerging researcher that has demonstrated interdisciplinary research strengths, grantsmanship and publications in food systems study. The Chair will work closely with colleagues in the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences and will take a lead role at the Food Security Research Network (FSRN) (www.fsrn.ca ) which has an established track record in community-based research. Read more…

Ithaca College
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Environmental Studies & SciencesIthaca College invites applications for a renewable three-year non-tenure eligible Assistant Professor position in Environmental Studies in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences to begin Fall 2014. We are looking for an interdisciplinary teacher and scholar whose work addresses environmental issues from a social science perspective. We seek someone who specializes in one of the following: the culture of sustainable agriculture and food systems, environmental justice, community organizing, or sustainable planning/design. The successful candidate will play a key role in enhancing the social sciences curriculum within the department. She or he should have strong interests and/or experience in integrative and experiential education. The candidate will be expected to teach in the college’s new integrative core curriculum, as well as introductory and upper-level required or elective courses in environmental studies/science. Read more…